Oxford Internet Institute

The Oxford Internet Institute (OII) is a multi-disciplinary department, part of the University of Oxford, England. It is housed over two sites on St Giles in Oxford, including a primary site at 1 St Giles, owned by Balliol College. The department undertakes research and teaching devoted to understanding life online, with the aim of shaping Internet research, policy, and practice.

Founded in 2001, the OII has tracked the Internet's development and use, aiming to shed light on individual, collective and institutional behaviour online. The department brings together academics from a wide range of disciplines including political science, sociology, geography, economics, philosophy and physics and employs a diverse array of methods and data sources to study digital life.

OII has published several studies in Internet geography and Wikipedia. In November 2011, the Guardian Data Blog published maps of geotagged Wikipedia articles written in English, Arabic, Egyptian Arabic, French, Hebrew and Persian.[2] OII Senior Research Fellow Mark Graham[3] led the study and published the results on his blog, Zero Geography.[4] Graham also leads an OII project focused on how new users are perceived, represented, and incorporated into the Wikipedia community.[5] In 2013, OII researchers published a study of controversial topics in 10 different language versions of Wikipedia, using data related to "edit wars".[6]

Since 2006, the OII has offered a DPhil (doctoral) degree in "Information, Communication, and the Social Sciences."[7] Since 2009, it has offered a one-year Master of Science (MSc) degree in "Social Science of the Internet".[8] From 2015, prospective students can apply to study the MSc degree part-time over two years.[9] In addition, the department also runs an annual Summer Doctoral Programme which brings outstanding PhD students to study at the OII for two weeks each July.[10]

The idea originated with Derek Wyatt MP, was quickly espoused by Colin Lucas, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, and Andrew Graham, then Master-Elect of Balliol. Two Balliol Fellows, who knew Dame Stephanie from The Worshipful Company of Information Technologists, approached Dame Stephanie for support.

For its 10th anniversary the OII launched the OII awards for lifetime achievement awards on the internet research field and the Internet & Society awards for significant recent contribution to develop the internet for public good.[11]